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WORK TITLE: The Forbidden Garden
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://ellenherrick.com/
CITY: Cambridge
STATE: MA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.harpercollins.com/cr-121109/ellen-herrick
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married; three children.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Worked for Warner Books/Time Warner Trade Publishing; became vice president of marketing.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Ellen Herrick is the author of novels featuring three unusual sisters from a small seaside town called Granite Point, located on Massachusetts’s Cape Cod. Patience, Sorrel, and Nettie Sparrow are important citizens who run a nursery in Granite Point, a town that has an aura of magic and mysticism. Indeed, the sisters have such expertise with plants that they are sometimes suspected of using witchcraft. “I wanted to tell a story that seemed both real and magical and there is something about sisters and the number three that feels enchanted,” Herrick told Jen Lawrence at the 1010 Park Place Web site. “Their names and their gifts grew out of that enchantment.” In another online interview, at Shelf Awareness, she told Alex Mutter:”You should write the book you want to read. I was in the mood for the Sparrow sisters–for a little New England town, for summer, for things to go wrong. I thought, if I don’t sit down and write that, I won’t be reading that anytime soon. I basically told myself the story.”
The Sparrow Sisters
This novel introduces the sisters and their community. Patience, Sorrel, and Nettie are unmarried, the last of their family line, and Patience is the town healer, known for her reliably effective natural remedies. Henry Carlyle, a former Army doctor with a more conventional approach to medicine, arrives in Granite Point to start a practice. He and Patience clash at first, but then they form a mutual attraction that grows into love. All does not go smoothly, however. Patience and her healing arts are blamed for a young boy’s death, and it looks as if she and her sisters, along with Henry, will be the targets of a witch hunt. The story is narrated from various characters’ viewpoints.
Several reviewers thought The Sparrow Sisters captivating. “I will call this book essentially a romantic love story, one with more curve balls thrown than in a bottom-of-the-ninth Red Sox game,” observed Dennis Menard at ABC Blog. Herrick tells her tale with a degree of restraint, he added, saying: “The love and romance is New Englandishly portrayed, as much love of community and the romance of truly knowing who your friends are.” Another online critic, at B.F.F. Book Blog, noted that “Herrick has created a delightful world full of beautiful passages and quirky characters.” The “absolutely lovely book” has a “remarkable sense of place,” this critic continued. In a similar vein, a contributor to the Reading Lark Web site commented: “The setting and character descriptions are the strength of this piece.” In Xpress Reviews, Kristen Droesch concluded: “Readers looking for a charming, romantic tale with just the right amount of magical elements will enjoy this book.”
The Forbidden Garden
In the second book about the Sparrow sisters, eldest sister Sorrel, still upset over the events that played out in the previous novel, accepts an English lord’s invitation to journey across the Atlantic and try to rehabilitate a decayed Shakespearean garden on his property. Many believe the garden is under a curse. Sorrel gets along well with Graham, Lord Kirkwood, and his wife, Stella, and daughter, Poppy, but she is particularly drawn to Stella’s brother, Andrew Warburton, an Anglican priest who has lost faith in both God and humanity after a failed relationship. When he returns her affections, though, she worries that Andrew may be laboring under a spell cast by one of her sisters. She also ends up uncovering some unsavory Kirkwood family history, as a tapestry portrays a horrific crime committed by an ancestor, along with clues to the mystery’s solution.
Herrick did not originally plan to write another novel about the sisters, she told Lawrence. “I thought I might write more about the little town by the sea, Granite Point, which is a character in itself and filled with stories, but I didn’t intend to tell more stories about the girls!” she said. “Except … Sorrel had a story that needed telling and an adventure that needed exploring!”
Like The Sparrow Sisters, The Forbidden Garden received praise from numerous critics. “Herrick spins a charming tale, deftly marrying dark Gothic elements to bright romance,” related a Kirkus Reviews contributor. Sally Peterson, writing in the Portland Oregonian‘s online edition, called the novel “a heartwarming tale of transformation through the resurrection of a garden.” Booklist reviewer Tracy Babiasz thought that “Herrick doesn’t quite find a balance between contemporary women’s fiction and magic realism,” but Babiasz did commend the passages depicting Sorrel’s attachment to nature. A Publishers Weekly commentator maintained that the love story between Sorrel and Andrew “pales in comparison to the unfurling of the novel’s mysteries,” but added: “Herrick manages to deftly tie everything together.” On the Book Perfume Web site, Stephanie Burns had positive words for all aspects of the novel. “The Forbidden Garden is packed with everything you could want out of a rich and juicy read: mysterious ancient tapestries, a missing diary, the power of faith, family, and the magic of falling in love,” she reported. “I was spellbound from the very first pages. … The Forbidden Garden is the perfect book to welcome in the summer with.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist. March 1, 2017, Tracy Babiasz, review of The Forbidden Garden, p. 49.
Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2017, review of The Forbidden Garden.
Publishers Weekly, February 27, 2017, review of The Forbidden Garden, p. 71.
Xpress Reviews, September 18, 2015, Kristen Droesch, review of The Sparrow Sisters.
ONLINE
1010 Park Place, http://www.1010parkplace.com/ (June 7, 2017), Jen Lawrence, interview with Ellen Herrick.
ABC Blog, https://www.abc.nl/ (September 29, 2015), Dennis, Menard, review of The Sparrow Sisters.
B.F.F. Book blog, http://www.bffbookblog.com/ (October 12, 2015), review of The Sparrow Sisters.
Book Perfume, https://bookperfume.com/ (May 17, 2017), Stephanie Burns, “The Forbidden Garden: A Truly Enchanting Read.”
Ellen Herrick Website, http://ellenherrick.com (October 30, 2017).
HarperCollins Website, https://www.harpercollins.com/ (October 30, 2017), brief biography.
Oregonian Website, http://www.oregonlive.com/ (August 30, 2017), Sally Peterson, review of The Forbidden Garden.
Reading Lark, http://readinglark.blogspot.com/ (October 18, 2015), review of The Sparrow Sisters.
San Francisco Book Review, https://sanfranciscobookreview.com/ (October 8, 2017), Caryn Shaffer, review of The Forbidden Garden.
Shelf Awareness, http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ (August 13, 2015), Alex Mutter, interview with Ellen Herrick.
Ellen Herrick
Ellen Herrick
Biography
Ellen Herrick was a publishing professional in New York City until she and her husband moved to London for a brief stint; they returned nearly twenty years later with three children (her own, it must be said). She now divides her time between Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a small town on Cape Cod very much like Granite Point.
About
Ellen Herrick was a publishing executive in New York until she moved to London for a brief stint; she returned nearly twenty years later with three grown children (her own, it must be said). She now divides her time between Cambridge, Massachusetts and a small Cape Cod town very much like Granite Point.
Quoted in Sidelights: “I wanted to tell a story that seemed both real and magical and there is something about sisters and the number three that feels enchanted,” Herrick told Jen Lawrence at the 1010 Park Place Web site. “Their names and their gifts grew out of that enchantment.”
“I thought I might write more about the little town by the sea, Granite Point, which is a character in itself and filled with stories, but I didn’t intend to tell more stories about the girls!” she said. “Except … Sorrel had a story that needed telling and an adventure that needed exploring!”
1010 Park Place
— ESSENTIALS —
BOOK CLUB: THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN
BY JEN LAWRENCE // JUNE 7, 2017
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For our final book club selection before we break for the summer, we’re featuring the second book in Ellen Herrick’s magical Sparrow Sisters series, The Forbidden Garden. It’s the story of Sorrel Sparrow and her rare gift for nurturing plants and flowers. Sorrel travels from her New England home, to an English country estate, where she’s been asked to revive a Shakespeare garden imbued with family secrets. Gardeners, art lovers, and romantics will love the fairy tale Herrick spins. I had chance to interview the author and ask her some questions. She’s also happy to answer any of your questions in the comments field.
Q. You write such beautiful characters in The Sparrow Sisters. How did the idea of the sisters come about?
A. I wrote The Sparrow Sisters while I was living in London. It was an unusually cold winter and I began to long for summer in New England. I was homesick, really, and I wrote myself home, in a way. The Sisters came to me almost like a fairy tale, “Once there were four Sparrow Sisters…” I wanted to tell a story that seemed both real and magical and there is something about sisters and the number three that feels enchanted. Their names and their gifts grew out of that enchantment.
Q. When you started to write your first novel about the Sparrow sisters, did you know you were writing a multi-book series?
A. Not at all! I thought I might write more about the little town by the sea, Granite Point, which is a character in itself and filled with stories, but I didn’t intend to tell more stories about the girls! Except… Sorrel had a story that needed telling and an adventure that needed exploring!
Q. The women in your book are deeply intuitive and almost magical. Did you set up rules to govern their abilities as some fantasy writers do? Or did their abilities emerge as you wrote?
A. I didn’t have rules because I honestly didn’t know where I was going with the book until I got there! I don’t outline, silly I know, so each writing day I say out loud, “Once upon a time…” and see where it takes me. It seemed fitting that each of the sisters had a unique gift tied to their gardens and that their gifts would also tie them to each other and their town. In other words, I make things up!!!
Q. Your book is so stunning, visually, in terms of your descriptions of the gardens and art. Where do you draw your inspiration?
A. I am a keen gardener, self-taught and always learning. I am also an accomplished home cook with some training so writing about food and flowers is a natural to me. I am inspired by all my senses, including smell, so my gardens reflect that. I am most at home in a great, blowsy, overblown flower garden filled with scent and soft colors. As for art, perhaps spending nearly twenty years in London where I raised my three children and traveled hither and yon with them primed my eye and ear to the great painters and planters in the world. In fact, when I started writing The Forbidden Garden I was back in America and quite homesick for England in the summertime!!! Also, I always write with music. I build playlists over time for each book and the notes will always bring me back to a character or scene when I need it.
Q. You write about overcoming loss in both of your novels. In this book, your protagonist, Sorrel, has this terrific line: “I am the product of every kind of loss you can imagine, and I am stronger and smarter for it.” Is this your world view too?
A. I think it is part of my world view. I lost my mother when my first son was an infant. And, you’ll see this is a theme for me. I felt so very lonely for her. It was like being homesick and knowing you’ll never be able to go home again. I think much of my writing is about longing: longing for home, for people who are gone, for a season, for childhood. While there is no doubt I am stronger and smarter for having loss and sadness in my life, I am also softer in some ways.
I KNOW THAT I MADE SURE MY CHILDREN BELIEVED IN MAGIC FROM THE START, AND I TAUGHT THEM THAT ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE WITH IMAGINATION AND HARD WORK. LOOK AT ME! I PUBLISHED MY FIRST NOVEL AT 57!
Q. Have you started your next book and can you share what it’s about?
A. I have started book three and it is Nettie’s turn this time! Her gift is tied to food and cooking so expect lots of yummy meals around the Sparrow table and lots more insight into Nettie and Ben Avellar’s relationship. And… magic, of course!
Quoted in Sidelights: ”You should write the book you want to read. I was in the mood for the Sparrow sisters–for a little New England town, for summer, for things to go wrong. I thought, if I don’t sit down and write that, I won’t be reading that anytime soon. I basically told myself the story.”
Shelf Awareness for Thursday, August 13, 2015
The Sparrow Sisters: Ellen Herrick's Debut Novel
"I'd written all through high school and college, but it had never occurred to me that I could get anywhere near writing as a profession," said Ellen Herrick, author of the upcoming novel The Sparrow Sisters. Due out September 1 from William Morrow Paperbacks, it's the story of three sisters--Sorrel, Nettie and Patience--who live and work together as gardeners and healers in the small New England town of Granite Point. It wasn't until just a few years ago, and at the urging of her daughter, that Herrick began writing again in earnest.
The novel, which is Herrick's debut, combines elements of magic realism with romance and a tale of a small community turning in on itself in fear and suspicion. A new doctor arrives in Granite Point and soon hears of the Sparrow sisters and the remedies that Patience, the youngest of the siblings, makes for the townspeople. As Patience and the doctor become attracted to each other, tragedy befalls a young boy. Patience's cures are quickly implicated, and a kind of witch hunt hysteria sets in. Before long, the women of Granite Point must work together with the Sparrow sisters to set things right.
"You should write the book you want to read," Herrick said. "I was in the mood for the Sparrow sisters--for a little New England town, for summer, for things to go wrong. I thought, if I don't sit down and write that, I won't be reading that anytime soon. I basically told myself the story."
Long before Herrick became an author, however, she was a publishing professional: she spent eight years at Warner Books/Time Warner Trade Publishing, where she eventually became v-p of marketing.
"I worked in book publishing because I wanted to read, and I wanted to be paid to read," said Herrick, who also sat on the editorial board at Warner. She recalled that the first thing she did when she arrived in the Warner Books office to interview for a job was to stop and peruse the books on the wall. "Reading for a living was my idea of heaven, and I did do a lot of that. I was around books all the time."
Herrick left publishing in the 1990s when her husband relocated to London for work. Once in the U.K., Herrick decided to put her career on hold and concentrate on raising a family. Close to 20 years later, a family vacation set Herrick writing again.
"The year before we moved back [to the U.S.], my children went off on a skiing trip and I stayed home," Herrick recalled. Before leaving on the trip, her daughter asked her what she'd do for 10 days while her family was away. Herrick had planned to spend most of that time reading. She then started to think about what she could attempt with 10 uninterrupted days. "I said, I'll write a novel. And my daughter said, 'Great, I can read it when I get back.' "
Herrick did in fact sit down during that break and begin writing. What she worked on was not The Sparrow Sisters, but the experience got her writing regularly again. Three years ago, she began working on The Sparrow Sisters intermittently. After moving back to the U.S., Herrick joined a writing program in Boston, and there she "dragged it back out." Prior to sharing The Sparrow Sisters in that workshop, she had never shown anyone her writing.
"I was taking a three-month course, and halfway through it the teacher said, 'I think maybe you know what you're doing,' " Herrick said. It was not long after that when she got into touch with an agent.
"It's much different now, but I do know what it's like to be on the other side," Herrick said. Given that past experience, she worried throughout the acquisition and editing process how she appeared to her publisher.
"I kept wanting to say, 'Don't hate me, I'm not one of those authors,' " she added, laughing.
Her book tour will begin with a pre-publication event at the Brewster Bookstore in Brewster, Mass., on August 26. On September 6, she'll sign books at a party in Orleans, Mass., with books for that event sold by Orlean's Main Street Books. She has a September 10 event at the Harvard Coop Bookstore in Cambridge, Mass., and on September 19 she'll be one of several Cape Cod authors signing and reading at the Falmouth Public Library in Falmouth, Mass.
Said Herrick: "It's all something I've found wonderfully exciting." --Alex Mutter
Quoted in Sidelights: “Herrick doesn’t quite find a balance between contemporary women’s fiction and magic realism,”
The Forbidden Garden
Tracy Babiasz
Booklist.
113.13 (Mar. 1, 2017): p49.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
The Forbidden Garden.
By Ellen Herrick.
Apr. 2017. 384p. Morrow, paper, $15.99 (9780062499950); ebook (9780062499967).
Herrick (The Sparrow Sisters, 2015) moves the story of the Sparrow sisters out of the small New England town of
Granite Point to the English countryside when Sorrel Sparrow accepts an invitation to revive a long-deserted
Shakespeare Garden. Sorrel immediately feels like part of the family at Kirkwood Hall and begins to develop a special
relationship with Lady Kirkwood's brother, Andrew. Her ability to connect with plants and flowers appears almost
magical, and everyone is sure she is just the person to finally bring life back to a garden that has refused to thrive for
years. Yet even Sorrel may not be able to overcome whatever curse seems to have overtaken the garden before the
entire family falls ill under its spell. Though Herrick doesn't quite find a balance between contemporary women's
fiction and magic realism, her descriptions of Sorrel's rapport with the plants and garden and the powers they possess
will resonate with those who enjoy stories of drawing strength from the land. Recommend this to readers of Sarah
Addison Allen, Kate Morton, and Vanessa Diffenbaugh.--Tracy Babiasz
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Babiasz, Tracy. "The Forbidden Garden." Booklist, 1 Mar. 2017, p. 49. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA488689542&it=r&asid=6e658aa5d0a5038e14cb41bc10b5fd1f.
Accessed 8 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A488689542
10/8/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1507493882198 2/4
Quoted in Sidelights: “pales in comparison to the unfurling of the novel’s mysteries,” “Herrick manages to deftly tie everything together.”
The Forbidden Garden
Publishers Weekly.
264.9 (Feb. 27, 2017): p71.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Forbidden Garden
Ellen Herrick. Morrow, $15.99 trade paper
(384p) ISBN 978-0-06-249995-0
Herrick's second novel takes place nearly a year after the events of her 2015 debut, The Sparrow Sisters. Eldest sibling
Sorrel, one of three gifted New England gardeners, is invited by a friend's brother, Graham, Lord Kirkwood, to rescue
a purportedly cursed Shakespearean garden on his family property in the English countryside. She gets along famously
with Graham's wife Stella and their daughter, Poppy, and it becomes clear that Sorrel will fall for Andrew Warburton,
Stella's heartbroken, grouchy brother, a vicar who's lost his faith. While the family cheers on their union, Sorrel
worries that Andrew might be under a spell triggered by one of her sister's potent herbal remedies. Meanwhile, she and
Poppy investigate the family's dark history and its ties to the fallow plot that Sorrel hopes to bring back to life. They're
helped by the family's protective longtime groundskeeper, as well as Delphine, an old friend who aids the pair in
decoding a series of mysterious tapestries and the secrets of Graham's shady ancestors. Sorrel doesn't believe in curses,
but it seems like this curse might be real. This book would have been plenty interesting without the love story, which
feels rote and pales in comparison to the unfurling of the novel's mysteries. Nonetheless, Herrick manages to deftly tie
everything together. (Apr.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Forbidden Garden." Publishers Weekly, 27 Feb. 2017, p. 71+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA485671146&it=r&asid=d8bf333f9ac0a3e8f51b47b28cd7aa71.
Accessed 8 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A485671146
10/8/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1507493882198 3/4
Quoted in Sidelights: “Herrick spins a charming tale, deftly marrying dark Gothic elements to bright romance,”
Herrick, Ellen: THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN
Kirkus Reviews.
(Feb. 1, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Herrick, Ellen THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN Morrow/HarperCollins (Adult Fiction) $15.99 4, 4 ISBN: 978-0-06-
249995-0
The dead Shakespeare Garden on Graham Kirkwood's ancestral English estate may well be cursed, and a
preternaturally gifted gardener from New England could be his last hope.Herrick (The Sparrow Sisters, 2015) returns
to tell a second tale about the Sparrow Sisters and their magical gardens. Able to nurture any plant to flourishing
beauty, as well as to heal any ache through their skilled tinctures, the sisters are the empathetic healers of Granite Point
on the New England coast. Sorrel, the eldest sister, is still reeling from the tribulations of last summer, when her sister
Patience was accused of causing the death of a young boy. The townspeople turned against the sisters, wrecking their
nursery and sowing hate. Patience may have been acquitted and the town may have once again embraced its quirky
hedgewitches and apothecaries, but Sorrel remains angry. The invitation to heal the ruined Kirkwood garden comes at
a most opportune time. Once in England, however, Sorrel discovers not only a devastated garden, but also a broken
man: the dashing Andrew Warburton, an Anglican priest whose faith in God and woman has fractured under the
weight of a broken relationship. As love blossoms between Sorrel and Andrew, however, the garden's curse looms
darkly. A mysterious series of tapestries depicts a gruesome crime committed by one of the family's patriarchs, and
although several clues have been embroidered into the fabric, the final panel is missing, along with a diary kept by the
patriarch's long-suffering wife. As Sorrel delves into the soil, even more toxic secrets come to light--secrets that may
endanger her life. Herrick spins a charming tale, deftly marrying dark Gothic elements to bright romance. She even
titles each chapter with the name of a plant in the Shakespeare Garden, using the language of flowers--from "primula,"
presaging new love, to "willow" for mourning--to deepen her spell. Bewitching romance ripe for even more sequels.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Herrick, Ellen: THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2017. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA479234766&it=r&asid=7245b9be4190be6dfad42dee7c8e7c1f.
Accessed 8 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A479234766
10/8/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1507493882198 4/4
Quoted in Sidelights: “Readers looking for a charming, romantic tale with just the right amount of magical elements will enjoy this book.”
Herrick, Ellen. The Sparrow Sisters
Kristen Droesch
Xpress Reviews.
(Sept. 18, 2015):
COPYRIGHT 2015 Library Journals, LLC
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviews/xpress/884170-289/xpress_reviews-first_look_at_new.html.csp
Full Text:
Herrick, Ellen. The Sparrow Sisters. Morrow Paperbacks. Sept. 2015. 384p. ISBN 9780062386342. pap. $14.99; ebk.
ISBN 9780062386359. F
[DEBUT] This charming debut features the titular sisters Sorrel, Nettie, and Patience, who are as much a part of the
Cape Cod town of Granite Point as the sea or the plants they grow in their thriving nursery. The townspeople know
there is something special about the women, especially Patience, who can seemingly cure any ill with her herbal
remedies. Enter Henry Carlyle, a former army doctor looking to make a place for himself practicing traditional
medicine. Henry and Patience's relationship gets off to a rocky start with little hope of success, but as time passes they
begin to find a way to coexist, as healers and lovers. But when a terrible tragedy occurs in the little town, the blame is
laid at the sisters' feet, and the people turn against them. The shifting perspective takes some getting used to, but once
you do it is a surprisingly refreshing style. Patience and Henry are everything you could want in a protagonist couple,
and the supporting cast of characters are equally lovable.
Verdict Readers looking for a charming, romantic tale with just the right amount of magical elements will enjoy this
book.--Kristen Droesch, Library Journal
Droesch, Kristen
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Droesch, Kristen. "Herrick, Ellen. The Sparrow Sisters." Xpress Reviews, 18 Sept. 2015. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA430495781&it=r&asid=0dbfc7e98cb354de4660f8de7ff70d8a.
Accessed 8 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A430495781
Quoted in Sidelights: The setting and character descriptions are the strength of this piece.”
Posted by Lark Andrea October 18, 2015
BOOK REVIEW: THE SPARROW SISTERS
The Sparrow Sisters
By: Ellen Herrick
Published By: William Morrow
Publication Date: September 1, 2015
Page Count: 384
Buy it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound
Source: ARC Kindly Provided by Publisher via Edelweiss
Audience: Adult - Fiction, Magical Realism
Sorrel, Nettie, and Patience Sparrow have quite the reputation in their small town of Granite Point. The town located in New England is not a newcomer to the notion of magic and witchcraft as the region has a deep historical connection to these elements. The sisters own a local nursery and their ability with plants awes locals and tourists alike. Patience, in particular, has a gift that allows her to use plants to help people with health concerns. The residents of Granite Falls love the Sparrow sisters in spite of their eccentricities, but change is in the air and all of the sisters will be effected.
None of the sisters has married, but when a handsome new doctor, Henry Carlyle, moves to town Patience cannot deny her instant attraction to the man. As much as she mistrusts modern medicine, she feels drawn to Henry and finds herself embarking on a romantic entanglement that will change the very nature of her being. This relationship had some Pride and Prejudice elements as both Patience and Henry bring their own assumptions about the other to the budding relationship. They also cling to their stubborn nature throughout a majority of the novel which was slightly annoying.
The novel largely focuses on learning more about the sisters and then a town mystery that places Patience at the center. The writing in this one has a strong literary flair and I loved the sense of place. The sisters and their home came to life in my mind as Herrick weaved her detailed descriptions. The setting and character descriptions are the strength of this piece.
I was drawn to this one because of my love of Sarah Addison Allen's work. She manages to take realistic situations and infuse them with magic to create an addicting story. I was hoping for the same from Herrick. While I enjoyed The Sparrow Sisters, it didn't have the same addicting quality of Allen's work. I'd recommend this one to fans of magical realism, those who enjoy novels set in New England, and those readers who are looking for a fall read with a little swirl of "otherness".
One Last Gripe: I had trouble settling into this narration style. It felt unwelcoming if that makes sense. I wasn't immediately drawn into this story. It took some effort on my part.
Favorite Thing About This Book: The strong sense of place
First Sentence: All stories are true.
Favorite Character: Patience
Least Favorite Character: Henry (at times) - his attitude irked me
Summary:
With echoes of the alchemy of Practical Magic, the lushness of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, and the darkly joyful wickedness of the Witches of East End, Ellen Herrick’s debut novel spins an enchanting love story about a place where magic whispers just beneath the surface and almost anything is possible, if you aren’t afraid to listen
The Sparrow sisters are as tightly woven into the seaside New England town of Granite Point as the wild sweet peas that climb the stone walls along the harbor. Sorrel, Nettie and Patience are as colorful as the beach plums on the dunes and as mysterious as the fog that rolls into town at dusk.
Patience is the town healer and when a new doctor settles into Granite Point he brings with him a mystery so compelling that Patience is drawn to love him, even as she struggles to mend him. But when Patience Sparrow’s herbs and tinctures are believed to be implicated in a local tragedy, Granite Point is consumed by a long-buried fear—and its three hundred year old history resurfaces as a modern day witch-hunt threatens. The plants and flowers, fruit trees and high hedges begin to wither and die, and the entire town begins to fail; fishermen return to the harbor empty-handed, and blight descends on the old elms that line the lanes.
It seems as if Patience and her town are lost until the women of Granite Point band together to save the Sparrow. As they gather, drawing strength from each other, will they be able to turn the tide and return life to Granite Point?
The Sparrow Sisters is a beautiful, haunting, and thoroughly mesmerizing novel that will capture your imagination.
Quoted in Sidelights: Herrick has created a delightful world full of beautiful passages and quirky characters.” The “absolutely lovely book” has a “remarkable sense of place,”
Review – The Sparrow Sisters by Ellen Herrick
Title: The Sparrow Sisters
Author: Ellen Herrick
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages: 384
Genre: Magical Realism/Fantasy
Format: Kindle/Paperback
With echoes of the alchemy of Practical Magic, the lushness of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, and the darkly joyful wickedness of the Witches of East End, Ellen Herrick’s debut novel spins an enchanting love story about a place where magic whispers just beneath the surface and almost anything is possible, if you aren’t afraid to listen.
The Sparrow Sisters are as tightly woven into the seaside New England town of Granite Point as the wild sweet peas that climb the stone walls along the harbor. Sorrel, Nettie and Patience are as colorful as the beach plums on the dunes and as mysterious as the fog that rolls into town at dusk.
Patience is the town healer and when a new doctor settles into Granite Point he brings with him a mystery so compelling that Patience is drawn to love him, even as she struggles to mend him. But when Patience Sparrow’s herbs and tinctures are believed to be implicated in a local tragedy, Granite Point is consumed by a long-buried fear—and its three hundred year old history resurfaces as a modern day witch-hunt threatens. The plants and flowers, fruit trees and high hedges begin to wither and die, and the entire town begins to fail; fishermen return to the harbor empty-handed, and blight descends on the old elms that line the lanes.
It seems as if Patience and her town are lost until the women of Granite Point band together to save the Sparrow. As they gather, drawing strength from each other, will they be able to turn the tide and return life to Granite Point?
The Sparrow Sisters is a beautiful, haunting, and thoroughly mesmerizing novel that will capture your imagination.
Purchase the Sparrow Sisters
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The Amazon.com links used in this post are directed to the paperback copy of The Sparrow Sisters. This is an unusual case where the paperback is less expensive than the Kindle copy, FYI!
BFF K’s Review
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The Sparrow Sisters is an absolutely lovely book and the perfect pick for your fall book club meeting! I was captivated by the beautiful imagery and remarkable sense of place created by Ellen Herrick in this book. At first Granite Pointe is such an idyllic little seaside town. The residents and their surroundings are seen through the eyes of several of the characters. You learn about the quirks and nuances of Granite Pointe and its’ inhabitants. At the center of the community are the Sparrow Sisters and their nursery.
The mystical presence surrounding the Sparrows is woven through the first parts of the book and you’re left believing in the magic of who they are and what they can do through the plants that they grow in their nursery. The synopsis of the book hints at a pending tragedy and the build up creates a delicious sense of angst and suspense. There were a couple of times I was so nervous, I hesitated to turn the page or press play on Audible for fear of what might be coming.
Sorrel, Nettie and Patience are intertwined with the town and you soon realize that the success or failure of one is equal to the other. When Dr. Henry Carlyle arrives in Granite Pointe, he is immediately drawn into a passionate and life altering relationship with Patience Sparrow. When the tragedy strikes, the relationships of EVERYONE in Granite Pointe are tested and strained. I was so intrigued by the way that town turned on one of their own and the strife created from the discontent. It was too easy, almost unsettling, the way the witch hunt unfolded with the Sisters and Henry at the center. But, the devotion that the Sparrow sisters have to one another and their close-knit circle of friends/family is heartwarming. It’s critical for the women of Granite Pointe to take a stand and the Girl Power is fully awesome!
I had hoped for a little more magic and mystery, but the exceptional characters and relationships made up for any lack of alchemy. Herrick has created a delightful world full of beautiful passages and quirky characters. I enjoyed the entire book, both audio and written. The Sparrow Sisters has an immensely satisfying ending, but still leaves an opening to revisit these endearing characters. I’m looking forward to discovering what’s in store for Sorrel and checking in with all of the Sisters.
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This book was reviewed using a combination of audiobook and Advance Reader Copy. The audiobook was purchased by the reviewer, the ARC was received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
About the Author
Ellen Herrick was a publishing executive in New York until she moved to London for a brief stint; she returned nearly twenty years later with three grown children (her own, it must be said). She now divides her time between Cambridge, Massachusetts and a small Cape Cod town very much like Granite Point.
Quoted in Sidelights: “I will call this book essentially a romantic love story, one with more curve balls thrown than in a bottom-of-the-ninth Red Sox game,” “The love and romance is New Englandishly portrayed, as much love of community and the romance of truly knowing who your friends are.”
Book Review: The Sparrow Sisters – Ellen Herrick
Guest
September 29, 2015
Book Reviews, Fiction, You Review
Reviewed by Dennis Menard
The Sparrow Sisters - Ellen HerrickWhen a book set in New England, or better yet, Massachusetts, comes my way I am equally divided with delight and apprehension. My paternal line dates its first Massachusetts birth back to 1630. As to this factor my youngest brother comments: “Here so long and yet just one step up from trailer trash.” This dig is a reminder that however I, the eldest, was born, HE was born under a proper roof. My family hails from Leicester, a suburb of Worcester, both locations known for no other reason than for universal “outsider” mispronunciation. Our father’s most remarkable ability, dear sweet man that he was, was to cite the locally-known Lake Manchoug by the full Massasoit Indian name of Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchabunagungamaugg, which translates into English as “you fish on your side of the lake, I’ll fish on mine, nobody fishes in the middle.” This leads me to safely say that you can take the boy out of Massachusetts, but you can’t take the Massachusetts out of the boy. And so, even after thirty years of living in Amsterdam, this boy still claims native status. As out-of-state-folk tend to call us, I remain a “Masshole” to the end.
I think this covers the “delight” end of my reader’s spectrum. Now as to the apprehension: too often in literature, television or film, New England is chosen as a “quaint” setting. Often is this done by a writer with little more than a cursory Google search. However, a Massachusetts background, as its harsh accent, is as hard to fake (with less reason or gratification) as an orgasm. So said, I am here to attest that Ellen Herrick is the real deal. She has captured the Massachusetts mindset. Her book is peopled with those whose “walk on eggshells” conversation never wishes to offend or intrude on one another’s reserve, or privacy. This mannerism is quintessentially small-town New England.
Ellen Herrick proves herself as a wonderful story teller as well. I will say no more about the plot of The Sparrow Sisters beyond the basic background. It is the story of a surgeon injured in the Middle East who sets up as a General Practitioner in a small Cape Cod community. Here he meets some of the town’s founding members, Patience, Nettie, and Sorrel, the three remaining, last-of-the-family-line, spinster Sparrow sisters. They are avid horticulturalists, who run the local garden center, and have SUCH the greenest of green thumbs they are suspected as witches.
Although my love and romance experience is as extensive, memorable, and noteworthy as that of Balkan politics, I will call this book essentially a romantic love story, one with more curve balls thrown than in a bottom-of-the-ninth Red Sox game. But for those who seek such gratuitous, slap-and-tickle, count-the-limbs-and-divide-by-two, twenty-minutes-of-squelchy-noises bedroom scenes should be warned: there is no more than would make even the most New English of us squeamish. This book firmly closes the bedroom door leaving us to use our imagination. The love and romance is New Englandishly portrayed, as much love of community and the romance of truly knowing who your friends are. And, as importantly, it shows how far you may safely go to care for them without being intrusive. You don’t have to be a New Englander to enjoy this book! Although, it helps, like getting extra bonus material.
I will say that I, a natural born cynic now in my twilight dotage, can occasionally find myself suddenly, unaccustomedly moved to tears. Never does this arise for gimcrack sentimentality. But tears are sometimes shed for the sheer beauty of simple, beautifully conceived or constructed things. And so, I, a dyed-in-the-wool “Masshole”, upon finishing this book was moved to tears.
Dennis MenardDennis Menard is an artist. You can find his work at dennismenard.nl.
There is an ebook of The Sparrow Sisters available here.
The Forbidden Garden: A Novel
We rated this book:
$15.99
Sorrel Sparrow leaves her sisters, Patience and Nettie, and the plant nursery they run together to help revitalize an ailing Shakespeare garden in England. Patience is good at making herbal remedies and perfumes, Nettie has a knack for growing vegetables and fruit, and Sorrel knows how to make anything grow in even the harshest conditions.
Graham Kirkwood and his wife, Stella, don’t know what to do with the garden on their country estate. Nothing grows there, and it seems an evil lurks under the fallow soil. An old family curse is brought to light, and Sorrel finds new friendship and love away from home.
I did not read Ellen Herrick’s The Sparrow Sisters before I picked up The Forbidden Garden, but enough of the events in the first book were described that I got an idea of what the first book was about, and I felt attached to the Sparrow sisters and the people Sorrel met in England.
Reading The Forbidden Garden was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Herrick has a true gift for scene-setting. Every moment I spent in Sorrel’s world was cozy and inviting. From the things the characters ate to the descriptions of Graham and Stella’s house, I was drawn in and comforted in a snug literary embrace.
Reviewed By: Caryn Shaffer
Author: Ellen Herrick
Star Count: 5/5
Format: Trade
Page Count: 384 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Publish Date: 2017-Apr-04
ISBN: 9780062499950
Amazon: Buy this Book
Issue: April 2017
Category: Popular Fiction
Quoted in Sidelights: “a heartwarming tale of transformation through the resurrection of a garden.”
Book review: 'The Forbidden Garden: A Novel'
Updated on August 30, 2017 at 9:21 PM Posted on August 30, 2017 at 7:12 PM
Comment
By Homes & Gardens of the Northwest staff
Sally and George Peterson are DIY gardeners who have transformed a rough hillside with a lake view into a tree-laden landscape with organic vegetables and herbs growing in raised planter beds and a greenhouse.
On their Ashland property, 225 trees, mostly native and drought tolerant, provide shade, fall color and berries for birds. They have also planted 200 shrubs and 3,000 bulbs, and installed a filter system to catch rainwater.
We gave Sally Peterson a stack of garden-related books and asked her if the information would help other DIYers in the Pacific Northwest. Here is one of her reviews:
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"The Forbidden Garden: A Novel" by Ellen Herrick ($25.99, William Morrow): As its title makes very clear, this is not a gardening how-to guide. It is not a catalog of plants or a series of gorgeous garden photos. It contains no index, glossary or diagrams.
Instead, Ellen Herrick's novel is a story of renewal, reconnection and rebirth. Sorrel Sparrow, one of three enchanting (and maybe enchanted) sisters living in the United States, travels to England to restore an English Shakespeare garden that has a wicked history. Almost instantly, she is drawn into the lives of the Kirkwood family haunted by its past.
A page-turning mystery is woven into this novel's core. A wonderful love story develops that is life-changing for all. The characters are real, flawed and complex. The English garden is described in such lovely detail that an unforgettable image is "painted" in the reader's mind.
Herrick has created a novel that confirms for it readers that the human spirit can be a powerful force for healing and change. This is a heartwarming tale of transformation through the resurrection of a garden.
-- Sally Peterson
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Quoted in Sidelights: “The Forbidden Garden is packed with everything you could want out of a rich and juicy read: mysterious ancient tapestries, a missing diary, the power of faith, family, and the magic of falling in love,” she reported. “I was spellbound from the very first pages. … The Forbidden Garden is the perfect book to welcome in the summer with.”
REVIEWS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The Forbidden Garden: A Truly Enchanting Read
Posted on May 17, 2017 by Stephanie Burns
I’ve never had much of a green thumb. When I was a kid, I was forever making my mother buy me those little seed packets at the supermarket that never seemed to grow into anything no matter what I did. As an adult, I’ve always been that person in the office who politely declines when a co-worker asks me to water their plants while they’re on vacation. (And by politely declines I mean saying something like, “Me?! Are you sure? How often do I need to water it? Does it need sunlight? Does it not need sunlight? Just how much water are we talking about here? Will it drown? Maybe you’d better ask :::lists everyone else in the building:::.” Having said that, I love a good garden, and I love visiting them any chance I get, whether it’s a trip to the Berkshires to see Edith Wharton’s home, The Mount, a few hours at the famous Bellagio gardens in Las Vegas, or a jaunt to Charleston to visit the Magnolia Plantation (one of Riggins’ personal favorites).
I’m amazed by all of the work, talent, and, yes, magic, that goes into these botanical wonders. Recently, I had the pleasure of spending some time in another garden filled with rich history and all of the enchantment a good garden should have—and for this one, I didn’t even need to leave the couch. I found this one right in the pages of Ellen Herrick’s gorgeous new novel, The Forbidden Garden.
The Forbidden Garden brings us on a journey across the pond with Sorrel Sparrow (who you’ll know if you’ve read Herrick’s first novel, The Sparrow Sisters) as she is called to England from her nursery in Granite Point, Massachusetts in order to restore a dilapidated—and some might say cursed—garden. Hearing of Sorrel’s almost mystical abilities, Sir Graham Kirkwood believes that she is the only person who can return the ruined Shakespeare Garden walled behind his family’s ancestral estate to the glory it held generations ago. All that Sorrel knows is that every attempt to restore the garden in the past has failed, but the more time she spends at Kirkwood Hall, the more she uncovers about the family secrets and centuries-old histories that haunt the halls—secrets that may hold the key to the garden’s demise. The Forbidden Garden is packed with everything you could want out of a rich and juicy read: mysterious ancient tapestries, a missing diary, the power of faith, family, and the magic of falling in love. I was spellbound from the very first pages.
Ellen Herrick has a way of drawing you into the world of her characters, and from the earliest chapters, I wanted to soak up every moment I could on the English countryside with Sorrel and the Kirkwoods. As wrapped up as I was in the dark lore and mystery of the garden, I was just as enraptured by the cozy meals and conversations in Sorrel’s adopted home away from home. Every new character I met scored a place in my heart, from the Kirkwoods’ delightfully vivacious daughter, Poppy, to the surly yet sexy brother-in-law, Andrew. (Perhaps my new favorite fictional man of the cloth, and that’s saying something considering my ardent love of Father Ralph de Bricassart.) Best of all, like a garden just starting to bloom, I never knew what to expect next in this novel, and with every new revelation that blossomed, I was more and more eager to discover how everything would unfold in the end.
The Forbidden Garden is the perfect book to welcome in the summer with—and there’s no green thumb required. If you haven’t read The Sparrow Sisters, it still stands beautifully on its own, but I do encourage you to read The Sparrow Sisters first because it’s a wonderful novel and it gives context and even more depth to Sorrel, her family, and where she’s coming from. I’ve loved spending time in the world Ellen Herrick has built, and I hope to see even more of these characters in the future.
For more on Ellen Herrick and her gorgeous books, visit ellenherrick.com and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.